[pgh-pm] Pittsburgh Perl Mongers | Meeting | 09.08.2004

[casey at geeknest.com]

*Technical Gathering*

Talks on Unit Testing and Wiki

*Location*

  Cepstral
  1801 East Carson Street 
  Second Floor (Door on 18th Side)
  Pittsburgh, Pa 15203
  USA
  http://cepstral.com
  09.08.2004
  19:00

*Talks*

*Free (!) Unit Tests in Perl using LectroTest*
Tom Moertel

Writing unit tests is an effective coding practice that reduces development
time while raising our confidence in the software we create.  But, if we're
brutally honest, the work is often tedious and time consuming, tempting us to
skimp on test cases.  Is there anything we can do to reduce the pain while
keeping the gain?

Yes!  With QuickCheck for the Haskell programming language, Koen Claessen and
John Hughes demonstrated that not only can your computer run your test cases,
but also it can *create* them for you!

The first time I used QuickCheck for my Haskell programs, I was sold.  It
caught problems I never would have thought to look for, let alone test for, and
it did so elegantly.  The only problem?  QuickCheck wasn't available to me when
coding in Perl.

Last week, I finally got around to doing something about it.  The result is
LectroTest, a horribly named, automatic, specification-based testing tool for
Perl.

In my talk I'll introduce LectroTest, discuss the problems it solves, and
demonstrate how to use it.  LectroTest is a work in progress, and so I'll ask
for your feedback (bring tomatoes to throw) and solicit your advice for ongoing
development.  Finally, we'll get jacked up on espresso and race pimped-out
camels down Carson Street.  (Don't forget your betting money!)

*Do It Yourself Planning with Wiki*
Casey West

There's no shortage of people willing to help you orgaize, plan, execute,
reorganize, and follow-up. But what happens when your tools get in the way?
Announcements come the day before the Monger meeting. I mean, there are
concequences. 

I'll show you an example of a full-on conference being planned only with a
wiki and the spare time of the participants. Then I'll show you the
Pittsburgh Perl Monger wiki and beg you to help.

Just for kicks I'll show you the shortest wiki in the world, written by me in
Perl.


-- 
Casey West
(via automation)